An Essay On Writing Fiction Making It Real

To the reader a fictional narrative
is more than a conveyance of imagined events; it is a sensual journey, an
exploration of an alien world created by the author. Even if the entirety of the
plot takes place in a single-room apartment, there must be a world outside the
walls for the character to live in and react to in his life before, during, and
after the scope of the story. It is very easy to write words, easy to form
sentences and express ideas, and even easy to tell a story about a fictional
character.However, if the reader does not sense that they are taking part in a
piece of something far greater that exists between the lines they will not be
drawn in. They will be passive readers and might as well have not read it at
all. Everything in a narrative must have verisimilitude, the appearance of
truth, and furthermore, dimension.
A significant contribution to the
illusion of continuity in the story comes from the characterization process. It
is essential that major characters fulfill certain requirements, and it becomes
even more important in dialogue driven writing styles. Characters must have
distinct speech patterns to separate them from each other and give them
diversity. Everyone has different expressions that he or she use, different
word choice and usage, and other variations that can be more subtle that come
from what he or she say specifically. For example, some people are very short
in speech while others ramble, and on a subject that one person would discuss
openly another may remain mute. Keeping solid character identities throughout
the dialogue will present them as individuals that create the story rather than
only existing in it. The longer you follow a character the more familiar the
reader will become with their personality and the more important it becomes for
the writer to remain true to that character, that they say things that they
would conceivably say, and act in the correct manner. They should never appear
to be performing for the benefit of the narrative. The reader will have a keen
eye for dialogue that exists only for exposition or to advance the plot; a
married couple of 10 years would not spend much time detailing the events of
their childhood as they would have known it all after two. If they are doing
so, one of them better work on an oil tanker that spends 280 days out of the
year at sea.
Another powerful method in
presenting a story effectively is a cinematic perspective that shows the reader
instead of telling them. The reader's lens on a fictional world should capture
a rich world full of detail and life; if a character is in a city apartment the
entire time, there would probably be at least one siren, car-alarms, possibly
helicopter sounds, and neighbor noises and smells among other things, and the
reader should be made aware of them at some point. Different readers will have
different levels of familiarity with the subject matter and they should not be
expected to assume the ambient noises and events based on the location; they
can be alerted to their presence as often as the character becomes aware of them
or thought is focused on them. This draws the reader into the character's
surroundings, if the character is agitated by an inconsequential commotion
around him the reader will relate. If the reader sees the characters against an
active backdrop, reacting to their environment rather than just each other, it
is easier for them to feel that the world is continuing all around the story;
they should assume that the author, if asked, could tell them the name of the
hot-dog vendor down the street from the protagonist, how many kids he has and
how well his relationship with his wife is going at a moment's notice. If the
hot-dog vendor is necessary for the least, the author should have a strong
conception of who that character is, but if you treat all the principal
characters in this way then it will make even the most-unnecessary characters seem
to have the same level of depth.
Since the point of fiction is to
solicit an emotional response from the reader, relating characters' innermost
desires and deepest emotions in an effective way is crucial. Accomplishing this
without over-use of abstractions can be very difficult, and another application
of showing rather than telling is very useful. If Jack deeply desires Diane it
may be less powerful to simply say so, whereas showing that he desires her is
more artful and often more meaningful. For example, instead of "Jack
watched Susan working at the filing cabinet; he deeply desired her." a
more effective way might be "Jack watched Diane as she filed her papers,
admiring her, the white polyester blouse she wore fit snuggly on her slender
waist accentuating her figure; even her posture conveyed a sense of confidence."
In the second version, the emotion is never mentioned directly but it is very
clear that Jack desires Diane through his observation and admiration of her.
This general idea can be applied to most situations but if the reader must be
told and the narrator has access to the character's internal self, it can be
done as if in a train of thought. An example of this might be similar to the
following: "It was clear to Jack now; he wanted nothing more than to be
with her. Diane had slowly begun to inhabit more and more of his thought; he
would find himself daydreaming about her while he washed dishes, or wondering
what her favorite food was while cooking dinner, and at night, just before
sleep, he would try to think of other things, but as he slumbered she would
inhabit his dreams as well." Relaying the emotion in this way is passing
the statement off as a personal realization that Jack has had, rather than a
weak declaration from the narrator that the emotion exists.
What it really comes down to is
making a story live, to have a life of its own that originated from the author
but no longer relies on his guidance; a reader should be able to forget that
authors have motives in writing. Creating the natural feel in the story and
disconnect with the author is an elusive task, and it is derived of a
culmination of many subtle characteristics and choices of the creator. The
writing can't be a task based sequence of events, each with their duty to the
progression of the story; at some point the characters have to take over, and
if they do it becomes theirs, and only as subjugate to the author as an adult
child is to its sire.